5 Times Nightwing was Chill and 1 Time he Wasn't
by MoTheBro
Summary: Just 6 lonely one-shots that tie into each other about Nightwing being a boss and the team being (for some reason) surprised each time. Now edited. Complete.


1, Doing acrobatics while holding a radioactive briefcase.

Perhaps the one constant about Nightwing was his ability to always remain calm. If it hadn't been for Robin's reassurance, Karen would have thought that he was a robot. It all started the first week that she had been on the team. It was her, Miss Martian, Wonder Girl, Blue Beetle, and Nightwing on a mission to retrieve a briefcase of radioactive metallic hydrogen from a Lex Corp building in Jump City.

During the mission briefing, Batman had warned them to expect resistance and that this wouldn't be one of their usual recon missions. Like most of the buildings in Jump City, the lab was a hundred story skyscraper with a roof exit for maintenance. Nightwing, on point had decided to take the roof entrance to avoid triggering any alarms. The team got down to the sub-basement where the hydrogen was being stored easily enough by flying down the darkened elevator shaft.

However, in his rush to grab the briefcase, Blue Beetle accidentally triggered a pressure plate and guards were on them in seconds. Karen shrunk down and attacked guards where they couldn't see her, leaving a trail of unconscious bodies in her wake. Miss Martian went invisible and men were dropping like stones I random places with no warning. Wonder Girl tied up men as fast as they were coming at her and Blue Beetle was knocking out guards left and right. Both Nightwing and the brief case had disappeared.

 _Distract them. I'm getting out._ Nightwing's voice echoed in her mind. Bumblebee nodded and saw Wonder Girl do the same. It took them more than ten minutes to fight all of the guards off. Miss Martian reappeared and her voice appeared in everyone's heads. _All clear, Nightwing, we're on our way up_.

 _If you could get up here a little faster that'd be great._ Nightwing shot back casually. As the team shot back up the elevator shaft, Bumblebee wondered if Batman had made the team of all people who could fly on purpose, however, once they reached the roof all thoughts of Batman left her head when she saw Nightwing fighting three guards with just the armored briefcase full of radioactive material.

The strange hero had never been more of an enigma to Karen than in that moment. He wore all black but was constantly joking. While he seemed to prefer to be alone, he treated the team like family. He was holding a briefcase of raw radioactive material that was probably worth more than the statue of liberty and was dancing around like an idiot while using it to avoid being stabbed by the men he was fighting. He was the only member of the team with no flight capability and he was flipping around on the edge of a building with no concerns.

Then, he fell. Well, not fell so much as jumped. Bumblebee knew she was only supposed to speak over the mental link but in that moment, she screamed aloud. Miss Martian knocked out the men Nightwing had been fighting, or rather teasing and asked over the mental link, _Are you Ok?_ Karen turned to Wonder Girl to ask if Miss Martian was serious because Nightwing had just committed suicide in front of them when she heard his voice over the link. I' _m not Ok, I'm whelmed._

Karen wasn't standing next to him but in that one sentence, she could see Nightwing's shit eating grin. She heard a whoop from a few buildings over and flew up so she could see what was happening. Nightwing was swinging from grappling line to grappling line and doing some sort of intricate gymnastics routine while holding the briefcase to boot. Miss Martian's voice echoed in her head again. _Was that really necessary?_ To which Nightwing responded, _Of course not._

2, Drugging a friend

With the Justice League off world helping the Green Lantern Corp, the team had been left in charge of defending Earth. Of course, a few junior League members like Zatanna and Rocket had stayed behind to help but otherwise, they were on their own when the league of assassins decided to attempt to take over the entire United States.

Beast Boy had been playing cards with M'gann in J'onn's apartment when Nightwing's call came in. "Beast boy, Miss Martian, report to the watchtower immediately. We are in crisis. This is not a drill. I repeat this is not a drill." His gruff voice snapped over their earpieces, startling them and quickly ending their game. M'gann shifted in to her costume and they raced to the zeta tube on the roof.

By the time they got there, Rocket, Zatanna, and Nightwing were standing around the computer console with holograms of news feeds and videos of destruction ringing the room. Batgirl and Robin were already standing in the briefing area with Superboy, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Artemis, and Wonder girl. They walked over to the team as Blue Beetle and L'gann zeta beamed in. The rest of the team arrived before Nightwing, Zatanna, and Rocket made their way over. "Yo, Nightwing, why's the whole team here?" Kid Flash shouted.

"We're in global crisis. The League of assassins is calling for the blood of the Justice League and are spilling blood until they arrive."

"But they're off world!" a couple of people protested.

Nightwing shot them a glare before continuing. "Get traught! That's exactly, why I've called you here. You are all now the Justice League." Robin himself protested this time.

"Excuse me? Can you even do that?"

"You heard me. We can fool the assassins long enough to keep them from destroying to world and let the Justice league finish their mission. I've already figured out how to make this work. Artemis, you're Black Canary. Red Arrow, you're Green Arrow."

"Seriously? Once again, can you even do that?"

"Yes, grow up. Kid Flash, you're Flash. Miss M, you're your uncle. Superboy, you're superman. Wonder Girl, Zatanna has a glamour charm for you so you can be wonder woman. Aqualad, same for you and Aqua man. Rocket will be doing the same with Icon." Everyone was still standing there staring at him slack jawed. "Well, hop to it!"

"Um, aren't you forgetting someone Nightwing?" Robin asked.

"No, I just need everyone who's been assigned their role to go get on their costume so I can talk to the rest of you." Nightwing said, slipping something to Superboy who looked at him angrily for a second before nodding.

Now Beast Boy, Malcom, Karen, Arsenal, Blue Beetle, Robin and Batgirl surrounded Nightwing. "Ok crew, this is where it gets complicated. Beetle and Bumblebee, you're the hawks. Arsenal, you're Captain Atom. Beast Boy, you're Captain Marvel. Zatanna is still working on making your glamour charms because they're so complicated. Malcom, as always, you need to be our eyes in the sky. Robin and Batgirl, follow me."

Nightwing stalked off, leaving Robin and Batgirl to scramble after him. "I'm about to do something absolutely idiotic." Was all Beast boy heard before they were out of hearing range.

M'gann linked them back up as they came in looking like their assigned heroes. _Everybody ready?_ Affirmation came over the link. _Where's Superboy, Nightwing, Robin, and Batgirl?_ Asked Arsenal. M'gann looked around before her eyes glowed green. She flinched for a moment and said, _Superboy asked to not be linked and Nightwing is attempting to contact Batman. Robin and Batgirl are helping him. Let's go. They said they'll meet us there._

One group Zeta tubed to Star City, another to Metropolis, another to Central City, another to New York, and Chicago. Malcom stayed in the Watch Tower to make sure everything went as planned. Robin and Batgirl appeared a moment after everyone left, in their regular costumes. _You're linked up._ Malcom informed them as they Zeta tubed to Gotham.

Almost five minutes later, Superboy appeared, looking nervous in a superman costume, holding a tiny piece of paper in his hands. Malcom nodded to him and turned back to the screens. Finally, Nightwing appeared, dressed as Batman with his cowl down and domino mask on. _I don't know what Super boy's problem is but you two need to be out there now, the assassins will be looking for Batman and Superman, they're not exactly low profile league members._ Malcom said to Nightwing through the link. _Wait, you're dressed as Batman?_ Kid Flash asked. _Yes, now shut up and fight._ Responded Nightwing

Nightwing rushed over to Superboy. "Are you Ok with this? You know it's just a suggestion. I just don't want the assassins getting suspicious."

"Yeah, I know, I'm just afraid of losing control and destroying Superman's image."

"Hey, you'll be ok. I made this shield; the affects should be less severe."

"I know I'm just scared, and frankly, seeing you all I can even say is 'Get traught.'" Nightwing gave a nervous laugh that didn't sound right coming from him as he pressed an earpiece into Super boy's hands before tearing what looked like a sticker off the piece of paper Superboy was holding. They made eye contact and Nightwing adhered the sticker to Super boy's forearm. Malcom would have made a joke about giving a kid at the doctor a sticker had the change not been immediately evident. His shoulders straightened. He looked almost as if he wanted to punch Nightwing and most importantly, he started hovering a few inches off the floor.

"I'm sorry."

"I know." Super boy flew over to the zeta tubes. Recognized, Superman, 0-1.

Malcom made eye contact with Nightwing. _What did you just do?_ Nightwing looked back coldly. _I probably just made a mistake._

3, Fighting the most powerful man on the planet.

The team was standing in the entrance hall of the watchtower again, this time, heads hung as the Justice League stared at footage of the fight with the League of Assassins from two days before. Many of them were emotionless, but Black Canary and Superman looked proud.

"So who played me?" asked Green Arrow. "They have a great stance. I would guess Artemis but I think she's playing Canary."

"Red Arrow." Nightwing stated calmly, not displaying what Superboy was sure were the tons of emotions going through his head. Superboy was sitting off to the side, rubbing the slightly itchy part of his arm where the shield had come off the day before. Nightwing kept shooting him apologetic glances. Nothing had happened while Conner was 'under the influence' but he knew that Nightwing was still beating himself up over giving Superboy the shield.

What Nightwing either didn't notice or didn't care about was that he wasn't the only one. Conner and Clark had made a better relationship since the Light invasion and it looked like Superman was going to fry off Nightwing's head every time footage of Conner came on.

Like now. Conner was hovering next to the Daily Planet, breathing frost breath over hired muscle from the assassins. Although all of the men had been safely recovered, they were in the hospital. In the frame, Conner's sleeve had rolled up a little bit and the very bottom of a red shield was visible. Apparently, that metaphorical straw broke the metaphorical camel's back. Superman rounded on Nightwing.

"What were you thinking?" he yelled. Batman stepped between them, trying to stop Superman from launching himself at Batman's old protégée.

"Let him yell at me. I deserve everything I get and probably worse." Batman looked sadly at Nightwing.

"Don't say that."

"Then let me face him like an adult."

"You aren't an adult."

"While that may be true legally, two days ago, I put on the cape and cowl of an adult and stopped a city from destruction while organizing the rest of the Young Justice League to stop our country from domination by an undercover group of assassins. I think I'm plenty capable of looking a man who's angry at me for the same reason I'm angry at myself in the eye."

Batman pursed his lips. "I'm stepping in if either of you two get violent."

Nightwing glared at him again. "It's not like we're going to do this right here in front of everyone associated with the Justice League."

Superboy finally stepped in, "Actually, right now you are and if you two are going to yell at each other over who is guiltier about something I consented to then I want to watch."

Superman and Batman looked shocked at his butt in. Nightwing just sighed.

"Fine, I guess we're doing this right here." Nightwing stepped around Batman and made eye contact with Superman.

"You want to know what I was thinking? I was thinking that maybe I could keep the League of Assassins from destroying our entire country while also keeping the Justice League's image intact. Yes, I regret what I did but I had full confidence that it would work."

"Full confidence?" Roared Superman. "Those abhorrent things were designed by Lex freaking Luthor. You had seen and analyzed the affects in the past."

"That one wasn't made by Lex Luthor, it was made by me!"

"And just how did you make it?"

"I reengineered one of Luthor's, and guess what, I still feel like crap about it. But I stand by my decision."

Superman went deadly still. "You stand by your decision?"

Nightwing glared back. "Yes."

"You're treating my little brother, one of the only Kryptonians left in the universe like a freaking pawn on a chess board!" Nobody had noticed that Superman had been inching forward until Nightwing unsheathed one of his eskrima sticks from his back and touched it to the man of steel's chest.

"Just as he is your little brother, he is my friend, not my pawn. Nobody in this room is on my chessboard. In fact, I don't think I even have a chess board." Batman moved a second before Superman did but it still wasn't fast enough. Superman launched himself at Nightwing who slapped him with one of his eskrima sticks. It didn't stop the man of steel but it slowed him down enough that Nightwing was able to unsheathe his other escrima stick and block each strike.

Batman was about to interfere when Nightwing flipped over Superman, making Batman unable to step in without hurting either one of his friends. This went on for thirty seconds before Conner grabbed both of the by the collar and pulled them apart.

"What is wrong with both of you?" he snapped, rolling up his shirtsleeve. Look, it's gone. I didn't knock over any buildings and nobody's reputation has been ruined. As mother goose **(A/N DC codename for Ma Kent)** would say, no harm, no foul!"

Nightwing looked at Conner, remorse obvious on his face, despite the mask. Superboy, I looked you in the eye and applied a schedule three narcotic to your arm then told you to go fight a war!"

"Yeah, and I was fine because YOU designed that narcotic!"

"He had never tested it before!" Superman argued.

"But we had seen the effect of shields on me before and we knew what it was going to do." Superboy yelled right back.

"I could have seriously hurt you! Unlike Luthor's shields, mine literally altered your DNA structure!"

"Yeah, it made me more like the only parent I'm on speaking terms with!"

"Wait what?" asked Batman.

"Yeah, check the Zeta logs. Moments before the fight, Superman is noted as beaming to Metropolis." Mal noted

"That should be impossible." Batman and Superman said at the same time before glaring at each other.

"It's not. He's been working on this project for years. We both knew the consequences and while it was nerve wracking, everything ended up fine."

"Fine," said Superman, softening. "Next time you're doing something this stupid, please just tell me. I want to be there for you."

Nightwing just nodded. Everyone resumed their positions of watching the footage. In the top right corner, a screen showed young versions of Batman and Superman, standing in front of the Zeta tubes, looking nervous.

4, Being naked in a strange man's basement (Because really, what is context?)

Jaime woke up to the buzz of an inhibitor collar around his neck and just the running shorts he had been wearing under his armor on his body. _Jaime Reyes, this terrestrial technology around your neck is crippling my ability to assist you!_ His scarab said to him the second he started becoming aware of the cuffs stringing his wrists to the ceiling and his ankles to the ground.

Jaime looked up, blinking blearily at the frigid room around him. Bart was strung up the exact same way to his left with the inhibitor collar as well. To his right was M'gann, just past her was Robin and past him was Batgirl. They appeared to be strung in front of a stage with a table and two chairs. Hog-tied, completely naked except for his mask and shorts to one of the chairs was Nightwing.

Bart was starting to stir and both Robin and Batgirl were apparently both awake as they made eye contact with him. Nightwing and M'gann were both still out like lights. M'gann was understandable; she had a huge welt on her temple just above her right eye and it looked like she had narrowly escaped an orbital fracture.

By the time the skinny guy in green came in, Bart was awake and kind of kicking. The door to the frigid room was behind the prisoners because they could hear it open and close but not see it. Their jailer looked like he had skipped a week of food, a year of haircuts, and never seen the sun in his life. He was dressed in some sort of green robe and carried a golden Shepard's crook looking thing.

"Riddler." Robin growled. "What did you do to Nightwing?"

"Now, that would be telling!" Riddler whined, "And where's the fun in that?" Robin growled again. "It's ok, he's very good at answering my riddles, and it makes him fun to play with. But this isn't a riddle; it's an age old puzzle." He pulled two identical pill bottles, both containing a single pill out of a hidden pocket in his robe and put them on the table in front of him. "Jan!" he yelled, clapping his hands twice.

The door opened again and a petite blonde woman bustled in with a gigantic syringe. "Don't you dare inject him with that!" Robin snarled as Batgirl tried to bite Jan on her way past. Jan responded by kicking in the side of Batgirl's knee with a sickening crunch and elbowing Robin in the gut.

"Don't tell me what to do, bat brat." She smirked as she emptied the entire thing into a vein in Nightwing's elbow. Nightwing jerked up like a marionette with its strings pulled. He blinked twice before composing himself.

"Riddler. Good to see you. Is that a new outfit?" he asked amicably, "Why am I ass naked in your basement? Why is my mask still on, How long have I been here, why is my team chained up like they're at the butcher, what happened to Batgirl?" He turned to look at Jan. "Jan, have you put on weight or is there a bun in the oven?"

Jaime's eyes widened. Nightwing just… he just… how was he this awake after being drugged for at least an hour. Also, hadn't he been told to never ask if a woman was pregnant?

Riddler narrowed his eyes and said, "I forgot how much of a pain in the ass you are." At the same time as Jan said,

"You asshole, you should never ask if a woman is pregnant!" Nightwing just looked bored.

"I would shrug but you've hog-tied me well enough that I can't, props to you."

Riddler just glared at him. "Get to it boy, I've not had any good competition in a long while."

"You've not asked yet." Nightwing said making the shrugging face again. Riddler pointed to the two pill bottles. "Hmm, I won't tell you anything until Jan leaves and I get briefed on the state of my team."

Riddler rolled his eyes. "Jan could you?"

"Fine!" Jan stomped out of the room.

Riddler rolled his eyes again. "I know, I know, if I want you to play by my rules, I have to play by yours. Yes, this is a new outfit. You are ass naked because your suit is so full of escape tools it's easier to take off than screen. You are in my basement because this is where we always meet. Your mask is still on because as always, it's boring to just know and not find out. You've been here about four hours. Your team has been up for about one. They were with you so I had to take them too and it's easiest to chain them up like this. Batgirl tried to bite Jan and Jan didn't like that, now, answer the question, bat brat!"

"Hold them both up to the light." Nightwing said and Riddler did as he was told. "I'll take the red one."

"Bastard!"

"I always get it right! I'd never let you poison me!"

"Fine! Your clothes are upstairs! I'll get Batgirl some crutches, be gone by the time Jan is done making dinner, I don't want to have to share."

5, Being Kidnapped

Robin and Nightwing were supposed to be on patrol in Gotham when it happened. Batgirl was on a mission with Young Justice and Batman was stuck under deep cover for a few weeks. Nightwing had seen that Robin was zonked so he offered to do patrol alone.

At three am, Nightwing had decided to turn in for the night. He had a few scrapes and bruises from fighting Poison Ivy but otherwise he was fine which is why he would later beat himself up for letting a thug sneak up behind him and crowbar him in the head.

He slowly regained consciousness in one of Gotham's many warehouses. He didn't know who had kidnapped him but they were obviously unfamiliar with the Justice League because he could still hear chatter over the com in his ear. He was tied to a column with his hands around the column behind his back and his feet chained to loops in the floor. He had a blindfold on but he could smell the Gotham bay and hear people moving around the warehouse with honking ships in the background.

Nightwing had counted three thousand forty two heartbeats before someone came over and took off his blind fold. He blinked twice to clear the fogginess from his eyes and adjust to the bright light streaming in from a window high up on the wall. The man standing in front of him had scraggly hair, a huge beard, and more yellow than white teeth in his mouth.

"Good morning, imposter!" Yelled the man, "Have a nice nap?" Nightwing wrinkled his nose at the man's stench.

"Why am I here?"

"Straight to the point, I like that!" Some other men working around the warehouse nodded in assent. "You're here because you're not a bat."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You heard me. This is Batman's city. He doesn't like other heroes here and as his official fan base, we don't either." More nods and grunts of assent.

"I don't get it. I was raised in Gotham."

"Yeah. But we've seen the news, you've also got a gig going in Bludhaven. Unless you're out with a bat, you're not welcome here."

"You realize that I was Batman's first partner, right?"

"No, that was Robin and due to your disrespect, you can stay here until someone comes to pick you up."

"How are they supposed to know I'm here?"

"You've got one call." He said, handing over his phone while all movement in the factory ceased. "If you really know Batman, prove it, call him."

"I can't, he's on deep cover."

"Fine, call Robin then."

"Ok, dial (689) - 228- 2283 **(A/N, look at what the numbers spell on a keypad)** and put it on speaker." The phone started ringing. Once, Twice, Three times. Then, finally.

"Bat cave." Came the voice from the other side of the phone.

"Agent A, this is Nightwing. I was apprehended on patrol and need backup."

"Triangulating your location, Nightwing, Robin is on his way. Injuries?"

"No injuries. Approximate ETA?"

"Five minutes from dispatch."

"Ok, shut up now," growled the yellow teethed thug, shutting the ancient flip phone. All of the men in the brightly lit warehouse went back to what they had been doing and waited for the dark squire to arrive.

Finally, the roar of a motorcycle pulled up outside of the warehouse. The double doors slammed open. "Seriously?" asked Robin, making eye contact with Nightwing.

"Well, I'm sorry; I was about to head in when they got me."

"Like that makes it any better?"

"If it makes you feel less amused about this, I wouldn't have even been kidnapped if you were there." The yellow tooth man stepped in.

"Don't let us see you patrolling in this city alone again, OK?"

Nightwing glared at him. "Yeah, whatever."

Robin tugged on his sleeve and they left the warehouse.

+1 The team being kidnapped

Wonder Girl never thought she would describe easy going Nightwing as nightmare fuel. She had watched him jump off hundred story buildings, fight armies, and run the entire Young Justice team while keeping a smile. However, as Joker's goons started knocking out the team, Nightwing's voice over the coms got darker and darker.

She woke back up with an inhibitor collar on and piled up against Robin, Batgirl, Beast Boy, Superboy, Impulse, and Bumblebee. They were in some type of electrified birdcage hanging from the ceiling of some sort of cavern and the rest of the team was in another birdcage across from them. All of their gear was piled up between the cages. The cavern wasn't dark and dreary like one would expect but painted neon green with light purple accents and violent slashes of neon yellow and orange around the place like a madman had been painting the stone walls.

Superboy groaned next to her, slowly regaining consciousness. It was sometime later that the whole team was awake. "Where are we?" asked Artemis.

"I'd say Joker's current haunt. He broke out of Arkham a few weeks ago. Why we're here though, I have no idea." Batgirl responded.

"Why my dear, that would be because you lot are the only thing that will get dear old Nightwing riled up." Joker cackled, entering the room.

"Nothing gets Nightwing riled up." Said Beast Boy, following Joker with his eyes.

"That's what you think, my dear little boy but Robin there can tell you differently. He knows how it really is."

"He has no way of finding us." Superboy argued.

"Wrong. He always knows where you people are."

"What do you think he is? The eye in the sky. You've removed all of our trackers and gear."

"But I disabled nothing and I have faith in golden boy. After all, he is the Bat's first protegee."

"Whatever." Grumbled Robin.

CRASH!

"Don't whatever me young man. Either I need to fire my goons or he's here right now."

"Joker!" Echoed Nightwing's voice from behind the door.

"I'm guessing it's the goons," giggled Joker.

"You piece of scum, what do you plan to gain from this?" Shouted Batgirl.

A panel slid up on the wall opposite of the door. Behind it was what appeared to be a torture station. "Why of course, I just want my friend back, hasn't dear old Nightwing told you about all of the fun times we've had together?" Joker wiped a pretend tear from his eye. "But of course, now he spends all of his time with you people and the villains in Bludhaven. It's like he doesn't even love me anymore."

"Joker!" Roared Nightwing, kicking open the door to the cavern the birdcages were in. In that moment, Cassie could see how much Nightwing was like Batman. He cut an imposing figure. Wind whipped black hair framed a livid expression and with his squared shoulders and acrobatic build, he looked like he could take on an army. His eskrima sticks hung, electrified at his sides and his stance was ready to launch himself at Joker. "I'm going to hospitalize you, bastard!"

"Now, is that how you address your best friend?" crooned Joker.

"We're not friends! And yes, that's how I address people who go near my team!" Nightwing growled, launching himself at Joker. Joker tried to block but Nightwing smacked away his hands with an eskrima stick. Joker's goons all started rushing into the room, trying to grab Nightwing off their boss but they couldn't even come close to touching him.

Nightwing was a hurricane, cutting through the goons and clearing a circle around himself. Twenty or thirty goons were down within five minutes and Nightwing launched himself at Joker again. He hit the green haired man with one of his electrified eskrima sticks so hard that they could see the energy rushing through Joker's body. Joker sailed across the room and Nightwing stood panting in a circle of motionless bodies. He turned off his eskrima sticks and sheathed them on his back, walked over to Joker and grabbed a remote out of the clown's pocket. Pushing two of the buttons on it, everyone's collars came off and the cages' electricity turned off.

"M'gann, the doors please." He said, smiling lightly, as if he hadn't just taken down a veritable army. The doors to the cages flung open and everyone jumped out. Nightwing ran over to Robin and Batgirl and hugged them. "Is everyone ok?" He asked, primly stepping over one of the goons he had downed.

"Yeah," Robin smiled.

"Ok good, I can get you guys out of here." Nightwing said as he started leading them down a hall. Cassie was startled to see guards and goons splayed all over the floor. Eskrima shaped burn marks covering many of their bodies.

"Over kill much?" asked Artemis.

"No, I was worried about you guys, I'm allowed to get a bit violent." Nightwing defended himself.

"You need to work on your definition of 'a bit'" Robin joked, elbowing Nightwing in the ribs.

"Yeah," the older boy grinned, "I probably do." He smiled as he lead them out into the not so fresh air of Gotham.


End file.
